Mold for building blocks and process oe molding



1,634,900. July 5, 1927. R. i FULLER v mow FOR surname azfocxs AND PROCESS or MOLDING Filed Dec. 31, 1924 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig 1.

Invent or; 1

Richard B. Fu] l'er,

M 7'- R. B. FULLER MOLD FOR BUILDING BLOCKS AND PROCESS OF MOLDING Filed Dec. 31, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor; v Richard B'Fuller',

- fitorney.

w w 1,634,900 u y 1927* R. B. FULLER IOLD FOR BUILDING BLOCKS AND PROCESS OF MOLDING Eild Dec. :51, 1924 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig- 4- Inventor Richard B- Fuller,

At orney.

Patented July 5, 19275 fumreo STATES PATENT, ori ice. f

mm B. rut-inn, or mwnnncnfnnw YORK, ASSIGNOB 'ro sroomn nmnnm y 1 system,- 1116.,1 conrona'rrou or NEW 2031:.

* 1on1) roan 11.1mm BLOCKS an]: rnocnss or uornme.

Applleatlon filed December 31, 1924. Serial No. 758,991.

The present invention relates primarily to aprocess and mold for making building blocks for use in wall structures such as that described in United States Patent No. 1,450,724, granted April 3, 1923, to James Monroe Hewlett. The particular type of block which is to be produced in these molds is now set forth in Hewlett application, Ser.

No. 88,522, filed February 16, 1926. These blocks are made up of loosely compacted fibrous material impregnated witha binder. I havefound that such blocks can be efliciently made and given a-proper degree of compactness if the prepared fibre is carried by an air blast into a mold so constructed that the air current will give the fibres a light but relatively uniform pressure. For the manufacture of the blocks'referred to a par ticularl suitable fibrous material is shredded wood ber, known asexcelsior, but other .fibrous material, as straw may be used,-the main consj deration being that it is obtainable at a low cost- A suitable binder is a mixture of magnesium oxide and magnesium chlorid, another is-slaked lime, the qualities of which are improved by the addition of sugar. y

In the accompanying three sheets of drawings which form a part. ofthis description, Figure 1- is a general View showing the several instrumentalities involved in the means and method embodying thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective of the body of the mold.

Fig. 3 is a perspective of the bottom plate of the mold. I

Fig. 4 is a perspective of the support for the cores and mold.

Excelsior is obtainable in compact bales. These are broken-up by hand and the material is fed to an ensilage cutter 10, which may be of standard design such as is; used by farmers in cuttin ering it into silos. The ensilage cutter "comprises a feed belt, a'revolving cutter for cutting the fibers into short lengths and a fan blower. The excelsior is here handled dry, and this ensilage cutter is preferably located where the excelsior is received, which is preferably in a building separate from'the others of the'plant to reduce the fire hazard to the others. I s

From this ensilage cutter, the broken up excelsior is blown through a conduit 11 the mouth of which is over a bin 12. A sufiicient up fodder andfdelivamount of binder in solution is. delivered onto the excelsior from a pipe 13, and the excelsior 1s forked over to insure thorough dis tribution, or the binderin solution may be put in first and the excelsior projected into it bythe air blast with such force that it is completely submerged and thoroughly moistened. In this case it is forked out onto. a tray 14 where the surplus solution is permitted to drainofi'. While suflicient of the binder is still adheringto the fiber it is fed through a second ensilage cutter 15 by which it'is again broken up and delivered with a powerful blast of air downward through a vertical pipe 16. The pipe is pivoted at 17 so that the lower end can be swung sligthly. This pipe, is without bends, except for the very slight bend in swinging the lowerend since the material is now insuch a condition that it-would tend to lodge atbends and clog the passageway. An open mold with a body portion 18 is located under the end of the pipe, and the pipe can be swung sufficiently to discharge into all parts of this mold. The body portion is formed of sheet iron of one-- sixteenth ofan inch auge and is perforated with one-half inch ho es which are sufficiently close together to remove about fifty percent of the lower edges of the body portion and hold the body portion in shape. The bottom plate has-two large circular holes through which pass upstanding cores 22, 22'. These cores extend upward through the mold and terminate in streamline points 23, 23 above the mold. Suitable dimensions for the manufacture of building blocks are eight by sixteen inches in cross section and twentytwo inches in height. The molds are dipped in oilbefore use to prevent rust and the ad'- hesion of the molded material.

A suitable support 24 rigidly carries the cores and has means in the form of guides 25, 25 to hold the upper end of the mold evenly spaced from the cores. The guides ether by buttons, 19, 19"

-struct the perforations in the mold body.

Proper ositioning with respect to the cores at the owenend of the mold is insured by the bottom plate. Notches 26, 26 in the hm of the support are provided so that hooks from a crane can on e under the mold to lift it. 01f when filled. lhe supports are mounted on a turntable 27 so that the molds can be quickly brought into place for fillm WEen fillin the mold, an attendant swings the de ivery pipe so as to be sure that the material will be evenl distributed. Ordinarily, no tampin will e necessary; the material has alre been broken up 111 such a way that there Will be no solid memes, and the air blast will pass through the ugper portion of the material which is alrea y in place and escape throu h the perforations in the sides of. the mo d,' thereby compacting the fibres just enough so that they will stick together. The air current may also serve to dry the binder a little so that the fibres will remain in the position which they assume underthe influence of the pressure of the flowing air stream. In this connection it may be noted that owing to the stream-line shape of the cores 22, the air current will not be deflected from the sides of these cores, but the material directly adjacent the sides of the cores will be subjected to the action of the air stream and properly compacted. Of course if a mold is, in part, filled impro erly, a small amount of tampmg or manual arra ement of the material may be necessary. A r the molds are filled, they are removed and the contents dried in any desired way as in a kiln. After the contents has "dried, the molds are unhooked, opened and removed from the molded blocks, and each block from the mold is sawed apart to form five blocks, each four inches in height and eight by sixteen inches in horizontal dimensions.

1. An open-top mold with perforated walls in combination with a core extending upward through the mold and terminating in a streamline point above the top of the mold, and means for blowing material into the mold.

2. An open-top mold with perforated walls in combination vwith a core extending upward through the mold and terminating in a streamline point above the top of the mold, means for breaking-up the mass of the material prior to its introduction into the mold, and means for blowing the material into the mold. 4

3. The method of'making fibrous building blocks, which comprises the ste s of eoatin fibrous material with a binder, raining 0 excessbinder, 'tating the material to break up imperm 1e masses, charging the materia by an air blast into a perforated mold, and permittin' sides of the mold material therein, ticles of the material are compressed toair to escape from the ow the top level of the whereby the fibrous pargether sufiiciently to adhere to eachother,

but are not compremed to the point where a substantially solid block is formed. RICHARD B. FULLER. 

